The L.A. Times music blog

On the charts: Justin Bieber and Lady Antebellum are the stories of 2010

April 14, 2010 | 2:01
pm

Heading into 2010, the safe bet on the pop-breakout story of the year was Ke$ha, whose Auto-Tuned anthem to drunken revelry, "Tik Tok," was topping the charts. Her debut, "Animal," has certainly racked up its share of sales, all while Ke$ha has given a top-40 face to Echo Park party girls.Yet the sales stories of 2010 have been teen star Justin Bieber and country riser Lady Antebellum.

In just two weeks on the U.S. pop chart, Bieber's "My World 2.0" (Island) has topped 670,000 in sales, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The good-humored kid, whose tales of junior-high innocence are laced with world-class club production, some courtesy of mentor Usher, has been everywhere of late, including FunnyOrDie.com and "Saturday Night Live." His album sold 102,000 copies this week and has moved a total of 676,000.

It's one of two Bieber titles in the top 10. His "My World," released late last year, sits at No. 8, having sold another 30,000 copies this week. To date, the 2009 effort has shifted a mighty 1.2-million copies. Trade magazine Billboard, which maintains the U.S. pop charts, won't release singles data until Thursday, but Bieber's went into the week at No. 8 on the singles tally.

If Bieber is for the young'uns, Lady Antebellum satisfies a more adult niche. The country act's sophomore Capitol Nashville effort, "Need You Now," led by by the late-night-rendezvous tale of the title track, continues to impress. After 11 weeks, the title is still in the top 5 and sold another 60,000 copies this week. That gives the title a to-date tally of 1.7 million. "Need You Now" is the top-selling album of 2010, thus far.

The week's top debut comes courtesy of former Guns 'N Roses slinger Slash, whose post-G'N'R, post-Snakepit, post-Velvet Revolver solo debut, titled "Slash," lands at No. 3. The album, released via Dik Hayd/EMI, features guest shots from the likes of Fergie and Ozzy Osbourne and sold 60,000 copies to enter at No. 3. That matches the No. 3 post tallied by Guns 'N Roses' "Chinese Democracy" way back in 2008, but the latter entered with 216,000 copies sold.

Soul act Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings have a career-defining moment on this week's chart, as the act's fourth album, "I Learned the Hard Way," debuts at No. 15 after selling 23,000 copies. It's a record for the group, which has been on the rise since the Dap Kings won acclaim for backing Amy Winehouse. The latest from the fiery soul group, released again on Daptone Records, greatly improves on their past effort, in terms of first-week sales, at least. In 2007, "100 Days, 100 Nights" sold just 4,000 copies in its debut week, according to a statement from the act.